


Breaking 13

by sunryder



Series: Big Short Fills [1]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Big Short Prompt, Episode: s02e22 SWAK, Everything is Pre-G/D to me, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-01-20 12:04:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12432444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunryder/pseuds/sunryder
Summary: Rule 13: Never ever, involve lawyers.For Tony, some rules are worth breaking.





	Breaking 13

**Author's Note:**

> For Rough Trade Big Short.  
> Prompt: Justice

“Special Agent Gibbs.” It wasn’t a question, so Gibbs didn’t bother to give an answer, no matter how twitchy he could see it made Kate. “I’m Phillip Green, a friend of Tony Dinozzo’s. More importantly for this conversation, I’m also his personal lawyer.”

“I told Tony he could take three weeks off. He doesn’t need to send his lawyer.”

“I think we both know Tony would be recuperating behind his desk if he could. I’m actually here to discuss the Lowell case. Specifically, all the facts that might be pertinent to any claim Tony might make for restitution.”

Gibbs finally looked up from the paperwork shuffle he was left with while Tony was out recovering from the plague. “Restitution.”

“To put it as bluntly as possible with half the room pretending not to eavesdrop, even if the JAG finds a judge willing to convict a terminally ill woman, Ms. Lowell will spend only a matter of days in prison. Since justice for Tony will not be served through a criminal case, I am pursuing more tangible, _civil_ options.”

“My office.”

“Gibbs!” Kate objected that Tony was their teammate too. McGee pointed out that maybe Ducky would have some things to contribute and despite his glowering resistance, Gibbs led them all down to autopsy, where Abby was already waiting after a bout of texting from McGee.

“Not that I don’t always enjoy any of your visits to my domain, but would one of you like to explain what brought you all down this afternoon?”

 

 

 

“Tony wants to sue Lowell for trying to kill him, Duck. Green is his lawyer.”

“Let’s be clear, Agent Gibbs, right now Tony doesn’t want to do anything more than be able to breathe when he walks across a room. Tony tried to tell me that this kind of thing is part of the job and you don’t demean the badge with lawsuits, but his speech lost its impact when he had to stop for an inhaler.”

“You can’t force him against his will into a lawsuit.” Kate demanded.

“I will drag him into this kicking and screaming, but eventually he will agree with me. I’m not going to waste valuable suing time while he gets onboard.”

“That bitch tried to kill him! Why would you have to _convince_ Tony into going after her?”

“Because attempted murder is supposed to get a jail sentence, not cash.” Gibbs snapped.

Before the two men could start yelling at one another about Tony’s best interests, Ducky interrupted. “Excuse me, perhaps you shared a bit more upstairs, but I’m confused. You intend to sue Hana Lowell for infecting Anthony with _y pestis_?”

“Hana Lowell and Lowell Pharmaceuticals.”

“You believe that will be effective?”

“Based on her lawyers’ press releases, they’re not going to try to argue that Lowell didn’t attempt the murder, just that her imminent demise means she shouldn’t be punished for it. I’m planning on arguing that anyone who managed to send an infectious disease through the mail and into a federal agency has the mental capacity to stand trial.

“Beyond that is Lowell Pharmaceuticals’ culpability in this mess. They’re a massive government contractor that allowed a woman who is pleading de facto insanity to remain their CEO and have unlimited access to projects dealing with national security. Obviously they did something wrong since she managed to get her hands on the plague, but how much I can get from them depends on how hard they tried to stop her.”

“They didn’t.” Abby shook her head.

Before Green could follow up, Kate asked. “How do you know about this _at all_?”

“Lowell’s PR campaign is portraying her as a fearless defender of people’s rights, devoted to reforming the medical industry, and having now fallen victim to one of the incurable diseases she tried so hard to fight. Without the details of the case I can only assume trying to make attempted murder via plague sound so far outside of her personality that it must be a product of the tumor.”

“But none of these mention anything about Tony.” McGee scrolled through his PDA, catching himself up on the press releases they’d been ignoring. Gibbs had said there was no way in hell he was going to let Lowell go unprosecuted after nearly killing Tony, and they’d all just taken him at his word.

“Tony’s got the _plague_. I thought it was just the same sort of insane thing that only happens to him, but then I saw Hanna Lowell on the news getting arrested for a biological attack on an unnamed federal agency and I filled in the blanks.”

“Because ‘unnamed federal agency’ means NCIS.” Abby nodded, having been subjected to Tony’s rant about NCIS never getting credit.

“And the lawyers were very clear that no one had died. It didn’t seem likely that the plague would non-fatally strike _two_ federal agents.”

“He’s got a point.”

“None of that explains what he’s doing here, Abby.” Kate countered.

“He wants the Lowell file.”

“Exactly, Agent Gibbs. I can only guess about Ms. Lowell’s culpability and that of her company until I see the file for myself. Usually I’d wait until the criminal trial is completed and all the records have been made public, but we’re on a bit of a time crunch here. Lowell’s lawyers are going to do their best to spend the rest of her short life keeping a trial from ever happening, and I’m not going to wait for them to fail before I get justice for Tony.”

“Justice is what you’re calling this?”

“It’s the only kind of justice a person like Hanna Lowell will understand. She knew no court was going to send a dying woman to prison when she did this. I want her to go to her grave knowing that everything she built is going to end up in the hands of a federal agent.”

With that, Gibbs had never been so helpful in his life.


End file.
